GM ending Cruise robotaxi program amid "increasingly competitive" market

Driving the news: The automaker announced Tuesday that it would no longer fund the Cruise robotaxi, saying it will "realign its autonomous driving strategy and prioritize development of advanced driver assistance systems on a path to fully autonomous personal vehicles."

• The company noted "the considerable time and resources that would be needed to scale the business, along with an increasingly competitive robotaxi market."
• Robotaxi competitors include Waymo and Tesla.

Zoom in: GM said it expects to save $1 billion annually in connection with the strategy change.

• The company said it will focus on development of Super Cruise, a partially autonomous system that enables "hands-off, eyes-on driving" and is now available on more than 20 GM models.

Context: The move comes after a tumultuous period for Cruise, which was engulfed in controversy when a robotaxi it was testing in San Francisco struck and dragged a pedestrian in October 2023.

• The incident led to a temporary shutdown in Cruise service and a suspension of its license in California.

💭 Our thought bubble via Axios' Joann Muller: Building a robotaxi business is more than just developing self-driving technology. It requires large-scale operations, including route optimization software, a consumer-facing app and people to maintain, service and supervise the vehicles.

• When GM is fighting for its life against lower cost Chinese electric car companies, it needs to pick its shots. Cruise was a long shot that GM could no longer afford to fund.

The impact: GM shares jumped over 3% in aftermarket trading Tuesday following the news.